New Delhi/Patna: With the Bihar Assembly elections fast approaching, six Janata Parivar offshoots on Wednesday announced their merger into a yet-to-be-named political outfit. JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav announced that all six parties had unanimously decided to merge and elected Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav as their chief as well as leader of the parliamentary board.
The leaders of the SP, JD(U), RJD, INLD, JD(S) and Samajwadi Janata Party were present as Mr Yadav made the announcement.
Mr Yadav also said the leaders asked the SP chief to decide the new party’s name, symbol and flag. Incidentally, the symbol has become a tricky issue, with the SP insisting on the bicycle, which is also the symbol of three regional parties, including the TD and Panthers Party.
The merger of six socialist parties comes two decades after they broke off from the Janata Dal in the 1990s. Mr Yadav said a six-member committee will decide on the new party’s name, symbol, flag and other details.
“It’s a historic decision. We have united and we assure the people that this will be a strong bond. We will respect the feelings of people,” Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said.
In the meeting, it was also decided to form a six-member committee comprising former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, RJD chief Lalu Prasad yadav, INLD’s Om Prakash Chautala, JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and Kamal Morarka of Samajwadi Janata Party. This committee will decide on the policies and the constitution of the new outfit and decide a political action plan.
Mr Mulayam Singh, however, hinted at some unease among the parties over the merger, as he said Mr Gowda was not very happy over some issues, but agreed to go with his decision. Mr Ram Gopal Yadav was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting.
Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, who was earlier a part of the JD(U), but is now completely ignored by Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, described the merger as “a farce”.
He said several JD(U) MLAs and members were not happy with Mr Kumar joining hands with Mr Yadav, who had been his foe for years.
